Quote of the day

David Broad recently addressed the increasingly contentious political situation in Canada, one defined by the economic reactionaries and their work to impose an austerity regime on the country. He briefly characterized the situation thusly:

The Tories [in Canada] are also using trivial smoke and mirror tactics in trying to keep Canadians from focusing on austerity, such as playing up the budget announcement of doing away with the one cent piece, with mainstream journalists joking about being “penny pinched,” etc. But indications are that many Canadians will not be so easily fooled, especially as their circumstances deteriorate. The majority of Canadian voters did not vote for and do not support the Harper Tories. Strikes and other trade union actions are on the rise in Canada, Aboriginal peoples are becoming more vocal, Canadian youth have been participating in the Occupy Movement, and students in Quebec have risen up to oppose postsecondary tuition increases. Conservatives are quick to chant that Quebec has the lowest tuition in Canada, not wanting us to consider that perhaps postsecondary education should be free for all. Conservatives are also working to vilify all youth activists, using youth “riots” as an excuse, denying that such “riots” are not simply senseless vandalism but only understandable as the frustrations of discouraged young people who see a society that has little future for them.